by Matt Booker
khameleun wrote:
Ah, I'll have to look those over. Thanks!
In MTG with Trample, you total the attack value, apply enough to kill the blockers-- taking into account damage that might already be on from earlier in the turn --and apply the rest to the defending player.
In Epic, you total the attack value from Breakthrough sources, subtract that from the total defense value of blockers, and apply the remainder to the defending player.
Seems the same, right? But defense value is not the same as a MTG creature's health points. A blocker in Epic always absorbs up to the total of it's defense value. So, it doesn't matter if that 5/5 took 4 points of damage earlier in the turn, it's always going to block for 5 points of defense.
MTG Example: A 10/10 with trample attacks and is blocked by a wounded 5/5, which already had 4 points of damage from an earlier spell. The 5/5 is effectively a 5/1, so it absorbs 1 point of damage, dies, and the defending player takes 9 points of trample damage.
Epic Example: Same scenario, but the 5/5 always blocks for its full defense of 5, so it absorbs enough to die\break, and the defending player takes 5 points of breakthrough damage.
An important clarification-- if a blocker is unbreakable, it still absorbs up to its defense value and the remaining damage is dealt to the player. You just don't kill the blocker.
And another important clarification-- when attacking with a mix of brekathrough and non-breakthrough creatures, calculating the amount of damage dealt to the player can seem tricky at first. Notice the underlined part above? When calculating how much damage to carry over to the defending player, you only look at breakthrough damage. I'm not entirely sure why they do it this way, and it seems convoluted and is one of the hardest things to get new players to understand, especially if they come from a MTG background.
Example:
You attack with a 10/10 with breakthrough, and a 6/6 without.
The defending player blocks with a 5/5.
Breakthrough sees the blocker has 5 defense, so 5 is dealt to the player.
Yes, that renders the 6/6 kind of useless, at least in that scenario. Thankfully, Epic has multiple attack phases, so you don't have to send all your creatures over in one go. :)
I apologize if that's stuff you already knew. It's something I always try to bring up with MTG players. It's something that was tough for me to figure out at first, because it seemed like it was just a different name for trample.
In the words of Flan the Mongrel, "There is overlap, but there is difference."